utility crews arriving from as far as away from texas and canada to help them out. it could still be days before power is restored to everyone. just like we saw last october when the region was hit with a surprise snowstorm up in the northeast. or last september, with the east coast hurricane, which all raises questions about our electric dwrid grid. trace galler has more from the breaking news desk. >> reporter: you make a good point when. a hurricane comes they have several days to get ready. this was a dry land hurricane. it came without warning and it stretched for some 700 miles, right? we're talking from illinois to d.c. all the way up to new jersey. as of right now, ohio, virginia, and maryland described the damage to their power grids as, i'm quoting here, catastrophic. and here's the process. first they have to repair the substations that send power out to hundreds of thousands. then they have to fix all those distribution lines that carry the power, sometimes over vast stretches of land. and then finally, they go and repair those local transformers that ge